Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook and other major CEOs attend a rare gathering in Washington

Tech world executives showered Donald Trump with praise on Thursday during a rare dinner that saw the US president host some of the most important players in AI at the White House.

“This is quite a group to get together,” said Meta chief and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, who was seated at Trump’s right side.

At the table were heads of major tech companies including Google-parent Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft and artificial intelligence star OpenAI.

Some of those at the dinner had attended Trump’s inauguration, signalling they were ready to fall in line with the 79-year-old president’s world view - or at least seek to avoid his ire.